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PRODID:-//Warwickshire Geological Conservation Group (WGCG) - ECPv6.17.1//NONSGML v1.0//EN
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X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://www.wgcg.co.uk
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Warwickshire Geological Conservation Group (WGCG)
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260905T103000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260905T133000
DTSTAMP:20260308T110939Z
CREATED:20260308T110937Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260308T110939Z
UID:99828-1788604200-1788615000@www.wgcg.co.uk
SUMMARY:WGCG: Ask a Geologist
DESCRIPTION:The WGCG shall be holding a special Ask a Geologist session at Market Hall Museum in Warwick. WGCG geological experts will be at hand to discuss geology in our everyday lives\, geological careers\, and geological science in general. Come along and examine specimens in super detail with our blue tooth microscope. We will have a number of rocks\, minerals and fossils on hand to be viewed and discussed\, a number of posters\, geological references and free brochures of nearby geology trails. \n\n\n\nThis is a drop in event\, no need to book ahead. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nptr
URL:https://www.wgcg.co.uk/event/wgcg-ask-a-geologist-6/
LOCATION:Market Hall Museum\, Market Hall Museum\, Market Pl\, Warwick\,\, CV34 4SA\, United Kingdom
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260911T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260913T153000
DTSTAMP:20260608T204923Z
CREATED:20260317T205502Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260608T204923Z
UID:99950-1789135200-1789313400@www.wgcg.co.uk
SUMMARY:EMGS and WGCG Joint Residential Field Trip - Nick Chidlaw
DESCRIPTION:EMGS: Residential Field Trip: Friday 11th – Sunday13th September 2026 Conducted Jointly with WGCG: Led by Nick Chidlaw‘South Malverns to Cleeve Hill’ \n\n\n\nItinerary: \n\n\n\nFriday p.m (c.2 – 5 p.m) – Gullet Quarry and Hangman Hill.Circular walk viewing Gullet Quarry\, along crest of Swinyard Hill\, to Hangman’s Hill to see aspects of the late Pre-Cambrian Malverns Complex & Warren House Volcanics and contrasting views of the Welsh Borderland and Severn Valley / Cotswold landscapes (subject to weather conditions). (approx. 3-4km.) \n\n\n\nGullet Quarry\n\n\n\nSaturday a.m. p.m. (timings t.b.c.)Visit two contrasting Severn River cliff exposures in the Severn Vale:Late Triassic at Garden Cliff\, Westbury (approx. 1km.); and\,Early Jurassic at Hock Cliff (approx. 2km.). Picnic lunch taken en route (details t.b.c.) \n\n\n\nHock Cliff\n\n\n\nSunday (c.9:30 a.m to 3:30 p.m) – Cleeve Hill Traverse of Cleeve Hill to examine mid-Jurassic limestones (approx. 3km.).This will involve transferring all participants using some vehicles from our assembly point finish about at the golf clubhouse (north side of hill) to a car park by the radio masts on Cleeve Common (south side of hill).Picnic lunch en route with further use of the clubhouse facilities nearby. \n\n\n\nCleeve Hill\n\n\n\nParticipants will be expected to be suitably prepared for whatever weather conditions arise\, and sufficiently mobile / fit for the walking involved……mostly on rough tracks and footpaths. In wet conditions Hock Cliff can get very muddy; Garden Cliff and the Malverns less so. Malvern terrain includes some steep sections. \n\n\n\nParticipants will also be required to make their own travel and accommodation arrangements. \n\n\n\nTewksbury is the focal point for this trip. The price will be £5 for a half day (Friday) and £10 per full day. Total trip £25.  \n\n\n\nTo register email julieharrald@googlemail.com \n\n\n\nFor full details\, click here to view the event flyer.
URL:https://www.wgcg.co.uk/event/emgs-and-wgcg-joint-residential-field-trip-nick-chidlaw/
LOCATION:Warwickshire
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260917T191500
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260917T210000
DTSTAMP:20260802T174839Z
CREATED:20260308T111336Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260802T174839Z
UID:99834-1789672500-1789678800@www.wgcg.co.uk
SUMMARY:Etruria Marl: what it is; how it formed; why it’s special - Dr Bernard Besley
DESCRIPTION:In the English Midlands the term ‘Marl’ has meant\, from time immemorial\, any clay from which bricks can be made. The Etruria Marl is thus not a marl in the geological sense of the word\, but a raw material formed by the red mudrocks of the Westphalian Etruria Formation\, a marginal alluvial red-bed facies of the Langsettian to Bolsovian Productive Coal Measures. Etruria Marl is one of the most important heavy ceramic clays in the UK\, being the dominant source of clay suitable for making high strength engineering bricks. It is favoured by the industry for its ease and flexibility of working\, its low embodied CO2 content and its fast and fuel-efficient firing characteristics. \n\n\n\n\nThe ‘Marl’ of the Etruria Formation is a kaolinite-dominated\, iron-rich silty claystone deposited at equatorial latitudes during a period of high global atmospheric oxygen. Its mineralogical characteristics derive from lateritic weathering in fault-bounded uplifts created during the first phase of Variscan deformation. Progressive deformation and uplift led to the northward spread of this facies into the southern part of the Pennine Basin\, with complex intra-formational unconformities creating a syn-orogenic molasse. Depositional environments included alluvial plains with meandering channels and alluvial fans. Throughout the Etruria Formation hiatal periods are marked by complex palaeosols which lead to marked variability in the bulk composition of the clay. \n\n\n\nWhile the Etruria Marl is best known in its type area in North Staffordshire\, it has been – and still is – extensively worked in Warwickshire. Here its stratigraphic relationships have been poorly understood\, but new borehole and seismic data allow some light to be cast on the sedimentological and tectonic events that accompanied its deposition. \n\n\n\nThe distinctive ceramic properties of the Marl derived from its ‘residual’ composition. The dominant kaolinite allows for the formation of a mullite-dominated ceramic matrix\, while a small proportion of illite allows easy workability and prevents the clay from having refractory properties. A unique feature is the high iron content\, which\, apart from allowing the production of aesthetically pleasing fired products\, allows partial melting at a late stage in firing on application of a reducing atmosphere. This stimulates the growth of fibrous mullite\, producing the immensely strong semi-vitrified brick known as a ‘Staffordshire Blue’. The combination of high strength and low permeability made the Staffordshire Blue a major material for heavy civil engineering construction in the age before reinforced concrete. \n\n\n\nThe last 10 years have seen a renewed interest in Etruria Marl\, following recognition that calcined kaolinite forms a pozzolanic material that is a viable feedstock for the production of LC3 cement. This cement formulation allows for a c. 45% reduction in the CO2 emissions in cement making\, and is seen as an important contributor to the decarbonisation of that industry. \n\n\n\nThe talk will outline the general palaeogeographic and sedimentological evolution of the Etruria Formation\, followed by a whirlwind tour of its properties and applications in ceramic and cement manufacture. If time allows\, it will conclude with a review of the resource position as it relates to major substitution of ‘conventional’ cement raw materials by Etruria Marl. \n\n\n\nBiography \n\n\n\nBernard studied at the University of Oxford\, receiving a BA in Geology in 1976. He then came to Keele as a Ph.D. student working on the sedimentology and stratigraphy of red beds in the Westphalian of Central England\, in collaboration with the National Coal Board. Between 1980 and 1985 he worked for Shell UK Ltd as an exploration geologist\, undertaking wellsite duties in the North Sea and being involved in regional play fairway analysis and detailed prospect mapping leading to the discovery of the Galleon and Ketch gas fields in the UK Southern North Sea. In 1985 he returned to Keele as Lecturer in Sedimentology\, where he continued his work into regional controls on late Carboniferous basin development in NW Europe. In 1996 he returned to the oil industry\, spending another 5 years with Shell before setting up a freelance consultancy business. In that time he has worked on clastic hydrocarbon reservoirs of all ages and environments\, being mainly concerned with the process of translating sedimentological models into numerical reservoir static models that can be used in a meaningful way for reservoir engineering purposes. He has also undertaken several stratigraphic and quality assessments of brick clays in the Late Carboniferous of the English Midlands\, being an authority on the geology of the Etruria Formation. Since leaving Keele in 1996 he has continued his association with the Keele geoscience department through his Honorary Fellowship. \n\n\n\nVenue:St Francis Of Assisi RC Church\, 110 Warwick Rd\, Kenilworth CV8 1HLhttps://maps.app.goo.gl/9CGWRNdgFfttDKtd7
URL:https://www.wgcg.co.uk/event/etruria-marl-what-it-is-how-it-formed-why-its-special-dr-bernard-besley/
LOCATION:Warwickshire
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261004T103000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261004T160000
DTSTAMP:20260725T175737Z
CREATED:20260622T222715Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260725T175737Z
UID:105337-1791109800-1791129600@www.wgcg.co.uk
SUMMARY:WGCG Bridgnorth Field Trip - Led by Stuart Burley\, Mike Allen & Ray Pratt
DESCRIPTION:Bridgnorth\, straddling the Severn Valley in a spectacular setting\, is well known for its striking topography\, defined by the Bridgnorth Sandstone Formation\, a bright orange-red\, soft sandstone of Permian age\, some ≈ 256-260 million years ago. The succession is composed of well-sorted\, quartz arenite sandstones organised into large scale sets of cross-strata and has long been interpreted as an aeolian dune deposit (e.g. Shotton\, 1937). It is one of several lower Permian aeolian dune-field (‘erg’) successions present within the United Kingdom and adjacent offshore regions and is thought to be broadly time-equivalent to the desert sandstones of the Kinnerton Sandstone Formation in Cheshire and the Rotliegend Group in the Southern North Sea Basin\, including the Leman Sandstone\, which formed the main gas-bearing interval. The Bridgenorth Sandstone Formation is considered to be the time equivalent of the Clent Breccias\, and possibly the Kenilworth Sandstone Formation. \n\n\n\nThe Permo-Triassic successions of the West Midlands mainly overlie Carboniferous basement rocks that were deformed during the Variscan Orogeny and partly eroded during early Permian sub-aerial exposure. The Bridgnorth Sandstone Formation occurs in the Stafford Basin\, a major half-graben structure filled principally by Permian-Triassic deposits of continental origin. It forms part of a chain of interconnected rift basins that extend from Lancashire in the north to Warwickshire and beyond in the south\, forming a large rift basin system in which a variety of non-marine environments developed including large ergs\, small isolated dune fields\, sandsheets\, basin margin alluvial fans and\, in the case of the Irish Sea Basin\, a large interior-draining playa lake. The Variscan highlands occupied an equatorial latitude and the Stafford Basin lay approximately 400 km further north under the influence of a semi-arid to arid climatic regime. Aridity was maintained because the region occupied an interior continental position within the Pangaea supercontinent\, away from any maritime influence\, and because it lay in the rain shadow of the Variscan mountain chain that stretched east-west through Europe. \n\n\n\nWithin the Stafford Basin\, the Bridgnorth Sandstone formed as the product of the migration of straight-crested and crescentic dunes that coalesced laterally to form elongate ridges (‘draa’). Many bedform slip faces were orientated transverse to the palaeo-wind with bedform migration occurring to the west. Along slope winds modified the dunes on a seasonal basis. The Stafford Basin contains only 200-300 m of Permian strata. By analysing the shape slip face orientations of these fossilised dunes the predominant wind direction when the dunes were formed can be determined. Analysis indicates winds blew from the east and south-east which is consistent with sub-tropical trade winds found at 20 degrees north of the equator today. \n\n\n\nOverlying the Bridgenorth Sandstone Formation is the basal conglomerate of the Kidderminster Formation (formerly known as the Bunter Pebble Beds) within the Sherwood Sandstone Group. These conglomerates were laid down approximately 250 million years ago during the early Triassic. They represent massive high-energy river systems that swept across the region during periods of flash flooding\, eroding deeply into the landscape. \n\n\n\nOn this field trip we will learn how to recognise aeolian dune sandstones and compare the Bridgnorth Sandstone Formation with the depositional characteristics of the Kenilworth Sandstone Formation. \n\n\n\nTo register for this trip please email julieharrald@googlemail.com \n\n\n\nFor more details please view the event flyer by clicking here
URL:https://www.wgcg.co.uk/event/wgcg-bridgenorth-field-trip-led-by-stuart-burley-mike-allen-ray-pratt/
LOCATION:Warwickshire
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261011T103000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261011T160000
DTSTAMP:20260802T184443Z
CREATED:20260602T214004Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260802T184443Z
UID:103859-1791714600-1791734400@www.wgcg.co.uk
SUMMARY:Day Field Meeting: Smestow Valley and Wightwick Bank - Led by Andrew Harrison and Julie Schroder
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://www.wgcg.co.uk/event/day-field-meeting-smestow-valley-and-wightwick-bank-andrew-harrison-and-julie-schroder/
LOCATION:Warwickshire
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261015T191500
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261015T210000
DTSTAMP:20260308T111644Z
CREATED:20260308T111643Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260308T111644Z
UID:99838-1792091700-1792098000@www.wgcg.co.uk
SUMMARY:Geology & Industrial Archaeology of Harlech – Allison Barraclough
DESCRIPTION:More details to follow. \n\n\n\nVenue:St Francis Of Assisi RC Church\, 110 Warwick Rd\, Kenilworth CV8 1HLhttps://maps.app.goo.gl/9CGWRNdgFfttDKtd7
URL:https://www.wgcg.co.uk/event/geology-industrial-archaeology-of-harlech-allison-barraclough/
LOCATION:Warwickshire
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261017T100000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261017T160000
DTSTAMP:20260117T104816Z
CREATED:20260113T215711Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260117T104816Z
UID:98070-1792231200-1792252800@www.wgcg.co.uk
SUMMARY:Ask a Geologist - Under Dippy!
DESCRIPTION:To celebrate Earth Science Week 2026\, the Warwickshire Geological Conservation Group (WGCG) is hosting a special “Ask a Geologist” session. Join us right beneath the tail of Dippy the Diplodocus at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry. WGCG geological experts will be at hand to discuss geology in our everyday lives\, geological careers\, and geological science in general. Come along and examine specimens in super detail with our blue tooth microscope. We will have a number of rocks\, minerals and fossils on hand to be viewed and discussed\, a number of posters\, geological references and free brochures of nearby geology trails. \n\n\n\nThis is a drop in event\, no need to book ahead. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue:Herbert Art Gallery & Museumhttps://maps.app.goo.gl/3w57Gv8vonQH8sxT9
URL:https://www.wgcg.co.uk/event/ask-a-geologist-under-dippy-3/
LOCATION:Warwickshire
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261119T191500
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261119T210000
DTSTAMP:20260308T111915Z
CREATED:20260308T111914Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260308T111915Z
UID:99842-1795115700-1795122000@www.wgcg.co.uk
SUMMARY:Geology of Stonehenge - Peter Worsley
DESCRIPTION:A talk on the geology of Stonehenge by Peter Worsley. \n\n\n\nMore details to follow. \n\n\n\nVenue:St Francis Of Assisi RC Church\, 110 Warwick Rd\, Kenilworth CV8 1HLhttps://maps.app.goo.gl/9CGWRNdgFfttDKtd7
URL:https://www.wgcg.co.uk/event/geology-of-stonehenge-peter-worsley/
LOCATION:Warwickshire
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261205T103000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261205T133000
DTSTAMP:20260308T112206Z
CREATED:20260308T112205Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260308T112206Z
UID:99846-1796466600-1796477400@www.wgcg.co.uk
SUMMARY:WGCG: Ask a Geologist
DESCRIPTION:The WGCG shall be holding a special Ask a Geologist session at Market Hall Museum in Warwick. WGCG geological experts will be at hand to discuss geology in our everyday lives\, geological careers\, and geological science in general. Come along and examine specimens in super detail with our blue tooth microscope. We will have a number of rocks\, minerals and fossils on hand to be viewed and discussed\, a number of posters\, geological references and free brochures of nearby geology trails. \n\n\n\nThis is a drop in event\, no need to book ahead. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nptr
URL:https://www.wgcg.co.uk/event/wgcg-ask-a-geologist-7/
LOCATION:Market Hall Museum\, Market Hall Museum\, Market Pl\, Warwick\,\, CV34 4SA\, United Kingdom
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261212T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261212T170000
DTSTAMP:20260602T214817Z
CREATED:20260602T214727Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260602T214817Z
UID:103863-1797084000-1797094800@www.wgcg.co.uk
SUMMARY:WGCG Christmas Social
DESCRIPTION:The next Christmas Social of Warwickshire Geological Conservation Group will be on Saturday 12th December at Kenilworth Senior Citizens’ Club\, Abbey End\, Kenilworth CV8 1QJ at 7.00pm. This year will feature wine tasting. \n\n\n\nDetails TBC.
URL:https://www.wgcg.co.uk/event/wgcg-christmas-social-2/
LOCATION:Warwickshire
END:VEVENT
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